infamous punishment of the Cross to immortality by a bloody death and how he would still honor them that honor him What fools then are those who relinquish Christ the giver of all goodness and sacrifice to Mammon the author of all evil 2. We have here also represented unto us the power of Gods Grace and the Imbecility of the Humane Will This good thief was a remarkable sinner and persevered so even to the punishment of the Cross and in so eminent danger of Damnation there was none present that could afford him either the solace of advice or assistance For though he was most near the Saviour of the world yet he heard the high Priests and Pharisees affirming him to be a seducer ambitious and an usurper of anothers Kingdom and he heard his fellow thief as it were barking at him and there was none that bestowed a word of comfort on him or Christ but behold the prevalency of Divine Grace when he was thus bereft of all humane aid and seemed to have no hope of Salvation being on the next step to perdition the Spirit of God shined on him in a miraculous manner and in an instant so beautified and changed his heart that upon a sudden he confessed Christ to be an innocent sufferer and the King of the world to come and checkt his presumptuous companion and perswaded him to repentance and before the staring multitude committed himself to the protection of a dying Saviour Whereas the other Malefactor in whom is expressed to life humane infirmitie was not at all moved at the strangeness of those accidents not at the charity of Christ who prayed for his persecutors nor at his extreme sufferings nor at the admonition and example of his fellow thief nor at the unwonted darkness nor at the cleaving of the Rocks asunder nor at those who through just astonishment returned home striking their brests all which hapned after the conversion of the good thief yet was he not at all changed though he had the helps of so many perswading arguments Obj. But why was the one inspired at that instant with saving Grace the other not both were equally great sinners before that time and but one now a Saint Sol. No other reason can be assigned then why God loved Jacob and hated Esau but because it was the will of God we must be satisfied with that All other reasons are shut up in the secret Ark of God which we must rather admire in a divine honor and humble silence then endeavour to unlock or touch Shall the thing formed ask the Potter Rom. 9.80 Why hast thou thus fashioned me Shall not the Creator of all make some vessels of honour some vessels of dishonour yet all to his glory which is as much manifested in the condemnation of the bad as the salvation of the good There can be no iniquity with him for though his judgments are occult yet are they not unjust 3. But this Caution we are farther taught by the words Though we must embrace the example of the holy thief in our Consolation yet not in our Imitation It may minister this comfort to a sad and despairing Soul That God hath and can pardon a true penitent be his sins never so great but it must not lead us to defer our repentance until the utmost period of our lives The conversion of Saul the persecutor and this thief upon the Cross is become Proverbium Peccatorum the Sinners Proverb and serves him Gregor and satisfies him in all cases But thou presumptuous sinner that puttest off thy amendment upon confidence of these examples dost but delude thine own Soul It is not safe concluding out of single instances there is much disparity between thy case and this thief's 1. Thy time is not the same When thou canst find such another day look for such another mercy A day that cleft the grave-stones of dead men A day that rent the Temple it self A day that the Sun durst not see A day that saw the Soul of Christ depart from his body there shall be no more such dayes therefore presume not of that 2. Besides thou maist look at the thief as on a Turk or Heathen newly entred into Christianity Baptized from sin Confirmed by Christ so dying and saved but how often hast thou broke thy Baptismal vows and with Copronimus defiled thy Font Eccl. Hist by rejecting those means which God hath given thee to secure thy interest and hopes of heaven 3. The thief was not converted at last but at first Cyril Non in fine sed in prineipio conversus latro as soon as God afforded him any Call he came But to how many calls hast thou stopt thine ears O sinful man How often hath God called thee with a voice of Terror by Thunder and Lightning by Wars Plagues Famine and other Judgments How often hath he sweetly called thee by the pleasant promises of the Gospel by the motions of his Spirit and by the temporal blessings of peace and plenty Thou shalt find here that although it hapned to one to receive Grace in his very last gasp which was a Miracle of Mercy a Prodigie of Providence yet the other found his judgment the one Blessed the other Blasphemed so the one was Saved the other was lost And whosoever shall peruse Histories Sacred or Humane and observe Quotidian events shall find very few to end their dayes well that have loosly ran the whole course of their lives And as they can hardly escape the furie of a Divine Justice that have acted a negligent and a vicious life so there are but few after a life well spun but die in Gods fear and are made partakers of his Glory Begin then betimes O man to become a new man n = * Omnâ—m crede diem â—ibi deluxisse supremum Hor. make every day thy last day that thy last may be happy The Indian Gymnosophists caused their graves to be made before their gates that at their ingress and regress they might be put in mind of their last day and happy were we if in the daies of our youth and vanity we spent some time in the meditation of our Mortalitie and of the account we are to make at the day our Souls and Bodies are divorced For that day may be sudden and give us no time or distracted and take away our senses or cursed and keep away Grace Chrysologus Gregor a man as full of sin as he was of wealth being on his death-bed in a bitter Agony cryed out Inducius velusque mane truce but till the morning and with those very words breathed his last 'T is not a tear or a groan then can expiate the sins of a whole life nor every one that saith Lord Lord Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of our Father which is in heaven Let these Reasons then move thee further to avoid all delayes in preparing thy self against
the patience to learn the following Article he might hear of his Triumphant Ascension into heaven and sitting there in Majesty and power on Gods right hand all the consolation of a Christian consists in this principally that after a troublesome warfare here he shall be carried to Abrahams bosome the Celestial Paradise to the durable Jerusalem to his Masters joy to an inheritance immortal undefiled reserved in the heavens to a rest from his labours and to behold the glory of God O how it behoves each man then to secure his interest in those felicities and daily and hourly commend his soul to that God that made it We are all careful enough when death approaches to put our houses in order and dispose of our temporals but few take a thought for that which is spiritual We had rather with King Asa seek to the Physitian then to the Lord 2 Chr. 16. when seized with sickness or with the Pharisees tithe mint and cummin and leave the weighty Matters of the Law undone but so we do but present God with maim not perfect with dead not living sacrifices Nothing can enter into the Kingdom of heaven but what is pure and immaculate and therefore our chiefest care should be if we desire to have admission there to prepare our souls by true faith and timely repentance without which our prayers and tears will nothing avail for without holinesse no man shall see the face of God He made our souls spirits let us not then make them carnal by feeding on corrupt lust He made them immortal let us not murder them with our sins and deprive them of eternal life He made them noble and after his own image let us not make them brutish and earthly by doting on the pleasures and vanities of this transitory world For what shal it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul TO thee therefore O thou Father of our Spirits do we make our humble addresses that thou wouldst be pleased to be a Protector of our souls and bodies both here and to all eternity Thou art our Rock and our Fortresse therefore for thy Names sake defend and guide us We have no confidence in saints or Angels for thou hast charged the best of them with folly but in the multitude of thy mercies for thou alone hast redeemed us O Lord God of truth Thou that didst shew thy power in weakness and shake the foundations of the earth when suffering on thy Cross make us to tremble through the horror of our sins and to fear thy judgments for them which we justly merit As thou didst then cleave the Rocks and rend the vail of thy sanctuary so melt our stony hearts with the beams of thy grace that they may receive the impressions of thy favors and that we may enter into the Holy of Holies above which thou hast prepared for thy chosen The height of our love is but to lay down our lives for our dearest relations but thou didst depose thy precious life for thy enemies that rebelled against thee Lord who by thy active and passive obedience wouldst leave nothing undone or unsuffered for our salvation O teach us to obey thy word to embrace thy metions to practise what thou commandest Let our wills be wholly resolved into thine and make us conformable to thee as thy saints and angels in heaven are We confess Lord that the wages of sin is deaeth and that we justly deserve to be reduced to our first nothing but O let not death which is the work of the divel have dominion over thy creatures who are the work of thine own hands Before we receive a summens to our end we pray thee furnish us with all requisite graces that we may be clothed with the wedding garment of holinesse and righteousness to meet thee the sweet Bridegroom of our souls Let us not commend unto thee foul sinful spouses but clean and sorrowful spirits for thou despisest not Lord humble and contrite hearts At the hour of death Lord speak comfortably to our souls and seal in our hearts by thy holy Spirit the pardon of all our sins Assist us with thy presence against all the assaults of our spiritual adversaries for if thou wilt be with us we shall neither fear nor feel any evil though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death And grant that though our souls and bodies be separated by death for a short space they may be re-united at thy great day and by vertue of thy Resurrection be raised to live in thy ever blessed eternity Grant this for his sake who lived and dyed and rose again for our salvation Jesus Christ Amen FINIS
the last day 1. The uncertainty of its time It was the policy of Julius Caesar never to acquaint his Army aforehand with the time of their march that they might be ready on all occasions and such is the wisdom of our God that he hath concealed this day from us that we might alwayes stand upon our guard and be ready 2 No time is secure As no place no Sanctuary can exempt us from deaths approach it may come to us in the Church in the Street in our beds c. so no time can priviledge from its arrest in the night as well as in the day in youth as well as in old age 3. Sometimes when men least think of it it comes Whilst the Crocodile sleeps the n = * A kind of a Rat. â—cknewmon getteth in and â—eateth his bowels whilest the Theban Centinel was nodding Gen. Epiâ—ninondas came and thrust him through 4. All the time alotted before that day is little enough for so great a work We have scarce time to learn how to live well saith the Philosopher but we are streightned with time to learn the art of dying well saith the Divine 5. Thy Preparation for will be no Acceleration of the day Our death will not be the nearer but sweeter the blow will not come the sooner foreseen Premeditati mali malis ictas but it will be the easier thy life and death will be the more comfortable 6. That day will be most dismal and Exitial to all unprepared persons like that of the man whom when the King came in found without a wedding garment who was bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness Mat. 22.13 Oh! that any or all of these Considerations might awaken our security and keep us from sleeping in those sins which will deprive us of Eternal life LORD We admire the deepness of the riches of thy mercy and goodness who wouldst condescend to be thus ignominiously tortured between two grand Malefactors for our sakes How thou didst abase thy self for our pride and humble thy self on earth to advance us to glory Teach us Lord who are but dust and ashes to be lowly-minded and never to exalt our selves before or against thee least by our pride we be excluded with the Angels out of Heaven or with Man out of Paradise But among all thy Attributes we most extol thy Mercy which was so transcendent to this poor penitent thief whom thou didst rescue from the jaws of hell through thy infinite Merits It had been enough O God if thou hadst but promised him to be with thee for where had been ill with thee or where had it been well without thee but thou hast crowned him with bliss and glory in the highest heavens By this we are taught Lord not to despair of thy Clemency for though Cherubins keep thy Paradise and thy gate of Mercy be guarded by Angels yet thou hast opened the door of it to as very sinners as our selves Though we have sinnes more numerous then the sands of the sea or the stars of the firmament yet is thy mercy more and above measure No stains or guilts can make us so vile but thy Sons blood can wash them off David Peter Magdalen Paul and this good thief were cured by the power of that mercie and virtue of that blood But because Lord we are too prone to presume of thy mercy which is so eminent over al thy works we therefore entreat thee to keep us from carnal security from a Lethargy in sin and the delayes of all religious duties When ever we fall into sin do thou Lord by thy Grace raise us up to a newness of life to a true and timely repentance lest we sleep and lie in our iniquities until we feel the horror of eternal death Raise us with David from the sin of wilfulness with Peter from those of infirmity with Paul from those of ignorance Thou calledst this penitent but once and he obeyed thy voice repented and was saved but Lord how often are we called how often wouldst thou have gathered us as a hen doth her chickings under thy wings but we would not O grant then that me may be either allured by thy mercies or terrified by thy judgments or converted by thy Word or won by thy Spirit that we may hate sin and forsake it love thee and never leave thee until thou hast brought us to that heavenly Paradise where thy Saints and Angels sing daily Halalujahs to thy blessed Name Grant this Father of Mercies and God of Grace even for his sake who suffered with sinners and dyed for our sins Jesus Christ The Third Word JOHN 19.26 27 He saith unto his mother Woman behold thy Son and to the Disciple Behold thy Mother A Question is here to be discust Why S. John did affirm the three women to have stood near the Cross of the Lord when S. Mark 15.40 and S. Luke 23.49 write they stood afar off But this is soon salved S. Aug. lib. 3 de Consen Evang. they may be said to have stood afar off in relation of the guard and souldiers who did even touch the Cross near because they could easily hear Christ Or they may be said to have stood afar off at the instant of Crucifixion the multitude hindring them but when his suffering began to be completed many giving way they might make a nearer approach The sum of the words is this Being I am now to pass from this loathsome world to my glorious Father and knowing thee to be destitute of all humane assistances I commend thee to my most loving Disciple John he shall be to thee a Son and thou shalt be to him a Mother The command was most pleasing to them both and S. John speaks of himself in the following words and from that hour the Disciple took her home But S. John was one of them who by his Masters mandate had relinquished father and mother all relations and possessions to follow Christ how comes he now having forsaken his own to take the charge of another mother Mat. 4.22 The resolve is easie The Apostles that they might follow Christ dismist father and mother as they were a hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel either in regard of carnal affection or worldly commodity but in what concerned their care and solemn duty they left them not and upon that account the Virgin Mary was committed to him having no other visible worldly support God without mans assistance could by the administration of Angels have procured her a livelyhood and protection but it was our Saviours pleasure to have it done by John as well in regard of an honour to him as a love to her God sent Elias to be fed by a widow not that he could no longer feed him by Crows as formerly but by this action he seemed to vouchsafe a blessing to the widow so it pleased the Lord to recommend his mother to this Disciple S. Aug Serm.
Protection Thy Father left thee O Son of God in that sad Agony that thou mightest the more gloriously triumph he left thee to struggle with Death that thou mightest unsting Death and having overcome the sharpness of it open the Kingdome of heaven to all believers Thou mightest have had a numerous Army of Saints and Angels for thy defence against thy enemies and death it self for all Power in heaven and earth was given unto thee O Lord but thou wert pleased to permit that Divine decree between thee and thy Father and thy Spirit that thou shouldst first suffer all these things and then to enter into thy Glory But tell us we pray thee Thou Lever of Men whether or no did the vehemency of thy sorrowes in that space silence thine heart from thine accustomary devotion for we when we are but toucht with any affliction can scarce lift up a thought to thee or speak of thy praises But O our Saviour it was not so with thee for though thy flesh was weak yet thou didst bear a Spirit prompt to all holy exercises We know that though thy tongue moved not yet with the mouth of thine heart thou didst send implicit ejaculations to thy Father for us neither didst thou only pray in heart but in wounds and blood And as many wounds as were in thy Sacred body so many supplicants there were for us to thy heavenly Father and as many drops of blood so many tongues petitioning mercy for us O our God! we are justly confounded in the Abysse of thy love and mercy to the sons of men O were our sins so great that no sacrifice could at tone thine Anger but the blood of thy Son thy only begotten Son in whom alone thou art well pleased O superabundant love O prodigious Mercy But Lord teach us by his example not to cast cur affections on the pleasures and vanities of this world but to delight in the cup of affliction whereof he drank in an overflowing measure Make us fear to sin for his sake who sinn'd not and yet so highly suffered for our sins and when me fall under the rod of thy displeasure for them correct us not in thy fury lest we should be consumed and brought to nothing Though thou dost eclipse thy savours sometimes from thy deaâ—est ones yet we are confident thou wilt not totally and finally forsake those who do not so forsake thee Therefore we pray thee be not farre from us O God and though we attribute to thy Justice the glory of our deserved sufferings yet let thy mercy have the glory of our deliverance from them for the Passion of thy son's sake Amen The fifth Word JOHN 19.28 1 Thirst FOr the better explanation of This it is necessary to add the precedent and subsequent words of the Evangelist After this Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled saith I thirst now there was set a vessel full of vinegar and they filled a spunge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth The Lord would have a full Consummation of all the Propheticall predictions of his life and death this only remained according to the Psalmist Psal 69.21 They gave me vinegar to drink Our Lord said I thirst The Prophet foretold it because he foresaw it the prediction or prevision is not the cause of a thing to Come but the thing to come is the ground of either The emission of so much blood could not chuse but provoke an extremity of thirst as I knew a man grievously wounded who called for nothing but drink which notwithstanding he entertained with a patient silence from the beginning of his Crucifixion His flesh had been long unacquainted with any moysture his veines his tongue his Palate and all his Interiours did labour under a miserable dryness but O sad refreshment in stead of giving him Cordials or pleasant drinks they offer him that which might either increase his torments or hasten his dissolution The summ of all is this As a little before his affixction to the Cross they offered him Wine mingled with Gall Mat. 27. so in the last period of his life they brought him Vinegar that from the beginning to the end he might have a continued Passion not mixed with any solace or refreshment The new Testament is for the most part an explanation of the Old but in this mystery of the Lords Thirst the words of the Psalmist may be styled a Commentary on these words of Christ I looked for some to sorrow with me Psal 69. but there was none and for Comforters and I found none they gave me gall to eat and vinegar to drink And of such the Lord here complains and saies I thirst Hence learn first O Man 1. To possesse thy soul in patience in thy afflictions after the great example of our Lord and Master Christ though in the fourth word there shined his humility joyned with his Patience yet here it appeares in its proper place This is it which setteth a seal upon all vertues even the first in the list and last in the triumph It is the Crowned Pomegranate which hangeth among bells in the lowest border of the high Priests robe of the old Law all was imperfect without the Crown of Patience it is the Salt of the Prophet Elisaeus which purifieth the polluted waters and sweetneth all the bitterness of life it is the School of Christianity So learned are we as we have Patience Ambross in Prov. 19 so much do we participate with God as we can endure by his example he hath taken a body to be able to suffer and to make himself the mirrour and reward of sufferours But we must distinguish true Patience from false True patience is that which commands us to suffer the evils of punishment that it may not enforce us to commit the evils of sin such was the patience of true Martyrs who would rather undergo the torments of villanous executions then deny the saving faith of Christ and would rather tolerate the loss of all they had then adhibit any adoration to false Gods false patience is that which perswades us to suffer all evil things that we may obey the law of lust and to loose eternal things to conserve the Temporal such is the patience of the Devils Martyrs who will easily suffer hunger thirst cold heat the loss of a good name and which is to be admired of the kingdom of heaven that they might augment their riches satisfie carnal concupiscence and ascend to the slippery mount of honours It is the innate property of true Patience to continue in a good cause to the end till by working it hath polished us Jaâ—â— 1.1 and made us perfect men and that is it which the Apostle declares in the Encomiums of it other vertues cannot long subsist without it in regard of some difficulties which are found in their actuations which by her assistance are conquered with
the possession of the world that is of humane kind the Devill had for a long time usurped a dominion over man because he conquered the first man and enslaved him and his whole posterity and therefore he is stiled the Principalities and Powers of the world Eph. 6.12 and the Prince of darkness Neither was he only so called Psal 96.5 but also termed the Gods of the heathen for he was publickly adored with sacrifices among them as their only God but on the other part Christ as the true and lawfull heire of the universe claimed to himselfe the Principalities of the world so that at length the battell was decided on the Cross and sentence was given in favour of our Saviour where he obtained the Trophees of an absolute Conquest for there he gave a plenary satisfaction to the Divine Justice for the transgressions of all mankind for there is returned a greater obedience from the Son to the Father then was the inobedience of the servant to the Lord the Son of God was more humbled even to death for the honour of the father then man was lifted to pride to the dishonour of God so God was reconciled to man through the merits of his Son when he rescued him from the clawes of the Devil Col. 1. and translated him into the Kingdom of his beloved son 5. And lastly these words may rightly be applyed to the building of Christ 's Church which was not perfected and finished until his passion though inchoated in his Baptisme Thus Epiphanius in his third book against Heresies and that learned and holy Augustine Lib. 3. haere 78. in his last book of the City of God affirm and teach Lib. 22. câ—â— that Eve being built and founded on the rib of Adam he being a sleep was a type of the Church which was raised from Christs side when he began to sleep through the heaviness of death and so the Scriptures do notifie not without a mystery Eve to have been built not formed And that the Church began to be edified from the Baptisme of Christ the said Father proves out of the Psalmist His dominion shall be from sea to sea Psal 71.8 and from the river to the ends of the world for the Kingdome of Christ which is the Church began to be built from the water of his Baptisme in which he receiving the Baptisme of John consecrated the waters and instituted his own which is the gate of the Church and this he was made manifest through that voice of his Father heard from heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him from that time the Lord began to preach and to Congregate Disciples who were the first that came to the Church and although there was made an apersion of Christ's side after death from whence issued forth water and blood which signified those two principal Sacraments of the Church Baptisme and the Lords Supper yet all ordinances had their full qualifications from his meritorious passion so that the flowing of water and blood from his side was rather a declaration of the mysteries rather then an institution most rightly therefore it is said that the building of the Church was then consummated when he said It is finished for there remained nothing then but a dissolution which speedily following the price of a blessed redemption for man was compleated 1. Learn hence O man that as thou art certain those things by their events to have been true which the holy Prophets predicted so thou ought'st to be fully assured that those future things which are foretold by the same Prophets shall come to pass though not as yet fulfilled for they spake not from humane fancies but from an inspiring Spirit of God which is ever infallible Sicut usque ad hodiernam diem omnia evenerunt Aug. in Psal 76. sic et quae restant eventura sunt c. Even as to this day all things have rightly followed so the things which remain will undoubtedly follow Let us fear then the day of judgment the Lord is coming he that came once in poverty will next come in Glory And that there be no haesitation in our saith we have stronger arguments on our sides then ever our Ancestors had they who preceded the times of Christ without any performances or external impletions were tyed to believe many things we who have had an experimental knowledg of diverse things already accomplished should be induced to credit the rest with the more facility who lived in the dayes of Noah did here that the general deluge was to come and it was demonstrated unto them not only by his preaching but also by his building of an Ark notwithstanding they would not believe because they had never seen such a deluge and therefore a divine fury fell suddenly on them now we who know that to be impleted which the Prophet foretold may easily believe that he at whose beck are all the elements may as well destroy the world by fire the second time as he hath done first by water And we that find it verified that Christ raised many from death and his own body from the grave may be fully confirmed that by virtue of his Resurrection our soules and bodies also shall be translated to a state of glory and immortality in the world to come 2. Observe that though the journey of our Saviours peregrination here was laborious and sharp above measure yet it received an honourable compensation it ended in triumph and Glory it lasted thirty three years but what was the labour of those years in comparison of Eternal happiness he was humbled and made a scorn of men and an abject of the people for a short time but God hath highly exalted him Phil. 2.9 10. and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven things in earth and things under the earth But his adversaries exulted to the period of his Passion Pilate rejoyced till the instant of his sufferings because he had preserved his friendship with Cesar and was then reconciled to King Herod but now he and the perfidious Jewes justly suffer in hell-flames for their sacrilegious impieties Here then the humble and patient men may see how good how propitious a thing it is to take up the Cross in this life and to follow Christ their afflictions are but light and transcient and not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to them for when they dye they pass from a vaile of sorrowes to a Paradise of joyes Rev. 7.16 where all teares shall be wiped from their eyes but with the ungodly it is not so the end of their miseries if they have any in this world is but an entrance and beginning of greater in the other where is endless weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth 3. Another benefit may be reaped from the third acceptation of the words for if
by the violence of any executioner nor by the seperation of his best soul if I may so call it the Godhead nor by such a separation of his natural and humane soul as that he would not or could not nor did not resume it again From what hath been premised thou maist learn O man First How that Christ shewed his Power his Wisdom and his Charity even then when he seemed to be infirm and void of all consolation They who naturally dye do by degrees loose their voice and strength but he in the last passage of his dissolution used a louder acclamation then formerly And not only that but as arguments of his further power he caused the basis of the universe to tremble the stones to be cleft the Sepulchres to be opened and the vail of the Temple to be disjoynted All which want not their several mysteries as the earthquake and the Scision of the Rocks signifieth that by the passion and death of Christ men should be moved to repentance and the obdurate hearts of the obstinate should be cut in pieces as it appeared by those who went from this sad spectacle Luk. 23. striking their breasts the apertion of the sepulchres denote the glorious resurrection of the dead bodies which were to be raised by vertue of his The renting of the vail of the Temple whereby the Sanctum Sanctorum did appear did imply that for the merits of Christs death the Caelestial sanctuary should be opened and that the holy should be admitted to enjoy the beatifical vision Neither did he shew his wisdome only in these shadowy Mysteries but also in that he produced life out of death which was typified by Moses when he made the water flow from the flinty rock And Christ for the same cause compared himself to a grain of wheat Numb 20.8 9. that dying fructifieth abundantly Jo. 12.24 for as from the corruption of that grain sprouts a living stalk and eare so from his death on the Cross issued a life of grace to many nations as the first man being gull'd with the sweet apple infected his whole posterity with death so the second man swallowing the most bitter apple of death brought all who were in him re-born to eternal life And what shall we say of his charity which was divers wayes wonderfully demonstrated at the instant of his death His life which was the most precious of all lives the life of a King the most powerful of all the life of the wisest and best of all the life of God-man he voluntarily laid down for his enemies for the wicked for the unthankful From the flames of hell he frees them that he might make them his brethren and Co-heirs and empale them within the blessed territories of heaven Is there any then so transported with cruelty to himself and so insensible of his own good as not to enbosome Christ with a thankful love Is there any so negligent of his own eternity as not to embrace him with a sweet recordation of his mercies Lord melt our stony hearts that they may take the impressions of such divine and unspeakable favours 2. Here offers it self also to our consideration the great obedience of our Saviour to his heavenly father in this recommendation of his spirit to his paternal protection whereby is verified what the Apostle sayes Phil. 2.8 That he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross It was so admirable that it had its imitation from his very conception and without intermission like an indivisible line lasted to his very death Neither was it determinated to one kind of work but extended to all those things which it pleased his Father to command to this do those expression of his tend Jo. 4.34 Jo. 6. It is my meate to do his will that sent me and to finish his work I came down from heaven not to do my own will but his that sent me And because Quia per victimas aliena Caro per obedientiam propria voluntas muctatur Gregor mor. l. 35. c. 11. Obedience is the best of sacrifices therefore as many works as he did during his peregrination on earth so many most pleasing sacrifices he offered to God Almighty Hence such varieties of them that sometimes we find him fasting in the desart and lodging with wild beasts sometimes in the frequency of men eating and drinking sometimes at home obscure and silent and that not for few years sometimes glorious as well in wisdome as eloquence and unclapsing his power of doing miracles sometimes with great indignation throwing the buyers and sellers out of the Temple sometimes as it were weak declining from the company of the multitude all which did require the noble qualities of an excellent soul which shewed him no way subject to the swayes of any passionate will of his own And as he practised so he taught the rule of perfect Obedience He that will follow me Mat. 16.24 let him deny himself Man must renounce his own before he can submit to the will of Christ The Celestial orbs do not resist the Angels that move them whether they be driven to the East or to the West because they have no proper propensitie either to one part of the heavens or to the other and the Angels themselves are at Gods beck to observe all his mandates because there is no repugnancy between their wils and his but seem to be so happily consolidated to him as if they and he were but one spirit And certainly if we will become Christs true disciples we must disband our own desires and natural affections and wholly resign our selves to his dispose and so become one with him 3. And lastly We may make this benefit of this last prayer of the Lord to use it as a holy Ejaculation upon all emergencies more especially at the hour of death for if the soul then leaving the body fals into the clutches of the Devil Ab inferis nulla redemptio there is no possibility of its redemption for as the felicity of the Saints so the torments of the damned are eternal but if it happily comes into the paternal hands of God the potency of enemies is not to be feared but it will be re-united to the body and both of them shall in the end enjoy a blessed and a glorious resurrection And herein lyes an ocean of comfort to all believers for as Christ the head did rise so shall every member of his mystical body be raised from corruption to incorruption 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. from dishonour to glory It is storied of an Indian King that when he had been Catechised so far in the articles of our Christian Religion as to come to the suffered and crucified and dead and buried impatient of proceeding any father asked only is your God dead and buried then let me return to the worship of the Sun for I am sure that will not die whereas if he had but